Robert wrote: > The mantras were composed by a special process by > the seers of the ancient times who knew the secrets > of the power of the sounds. > There is a difference between the 'mantras' of the Rig Veda, used in the sacrifice, and the 'bija' mantras made popular since the time of the nath siddhas. The former are phrases in Sanskrit; the latter are esoteric sound mnemonics used in the tantric yoga practices.
Bija mantras, in contrast to Rig Vedic mantras, don't have any semantic meaning; they're not found in Sanskrit lexicons because they are not words, they are sounds. Bija mantras are given in esoteric initiations. > Mantras are made by joining together symbolic syllables > in accordance with certain laws laid down in the Revealed > Scripture of Hermetic Formula, the Mantra Shastra. > The Rig Veda was composed before the invention of the alphabet. Sanskrit grammar came much later with Paninni. The earlist instance of writing in India is around 200 BC. Then later came the upanishads, then the sutras, then the tantras and then the rise of the bhakti sects. "OM' isn't mentioned in the Rig Veda, the Bhagavad Gita, or in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra. 'AUM" is the subject of the Mandukhy Upanishad, which came much later, after the composition of the YS, BG, and the UP. So, 'OM' is a relatively recent invention, since it's not mentioned by the historical Buddha, not mentioned by Badarayana in the Vedanta Sutra, and 'OM' isn't mentioned by Vyasa in the Bhagavad Gita. So, 'OM' is a recent invention - it's not even an esoteric mantra, except by courtesy. 'OM" or 'AUM' isn't a bija mantra used in genuine tantric practice.
